The Lost Sheep: A Colton Parker Mystery

by Brandt Dodson

Book Overview

Readers who loved the first three Colton Parker Mysteries will devour this latest entry in the fasta'paced and highly recommended series. After closing a high profile case, Colton Parkera's life is... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0736921400
• ISBN13: 9780736921404
• Release Date: July 2007
• Publisher: Harvest House Publishers
• Length: 278 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

An excellent mystery with a strong spritual thread.

The Lost Sheep by Brandt Dodson is the fourth book in his Colton Parker Mystery Series and the first Brandt Dodson book I've had the pleasure of reading. The book starts fast and builds speed along the way as private detective Colton Parker searches for his fifteen-year-old runaway daughter Callie. Though Callie leaves Parker a message not to look for her, Parker sees it as a plea to chase after her and he won't rest until he brings her home. Fearing that his daughter has become involved with prostitution, Parker follows his leads, journeys to Las Vegas and straight into the smarmy underworld of prostitution and the occult. Following clue after clue and with the help of a former brothel owner Marty and his girlfriend, FBI agent Mary Christopher, Parker takes the reader on a realistic journey through the side of Las Vegas that we seldom see or want to acknowledge. Colton Parker, an ex cop with a hard-edged view of life, on the surface fits all the old stereotypes of a gumshoe. Unlike these stereotypes, Dodson gives Parker added dimension bringing out his struggle between doing the right and often legal thing or bringing his daughter home. As a reader, we can identify with this struggle, with his love for his daughter and we cheer for Parker even when he makes a bad choice. But Dodson doesn't stop here. He powerfully weaves a spiritual thread through the Las Vegas scenes, showing Parker how God never leaves The Lost Sheep. Though Vegas is an incredibly odd place to find such a thread, the setting makes the message so real, so practical to every person living, that Dodson successfully brings the message of salvation to everyone. As I said, this is my first Brandt Dodson novel. Don't know how I missed them in the past. I certainly won't in the future. My only regret is that I didn't start with the first novel in the series and work my way through them in chronological order. But even this won't stop me from going back and enjoying the others. I hope we see many more Colton Parker novels in the future.

Gritty and Determined -- a great read

The fourth installment in Brandt Dodson's Colton Parker Mysteries, The Lost Sheep is a fantastic read. I don't usually like gritty PI type stories. The bleakness can wear me down. But there is something about the characters that Brandt crafts that propels me through stories that do nothing to hide the ugly side of life while reflecting enough light to keep the darkness from being overwhelming. In The Lost Sheep, Colton Parker's 15-year old daughter runs away and leaves only a voicemail for her father. In it she tells him not to look for her and nothing else. From that moment he is desperate to find her before something awful happens to her. From the back cover copy, I thought the story would start slowly with everything right in Colton's world. And after book three, I thought he'd deserved a moment to breathe. However, Brandt must follow Donald Maas' exhortation to torture his characters, because from page one the story raced to the ending. I started it at midnight, thinking I'd just read a chapter, and forty minutes later forced myself to put it down and turn off the light. Each time I picked it up it took incredible effort to put the book back down. The pacing of the plot is tight with short chapters that propel you through the story with the promise of "just one more." This book is fantastic, and I can't wait to read this author's next book. He's a talent in this genre

Frantic Attempts

Brandt Dodson's fourth mystery follows the trend of using a biblical reference for a title. Although this one seems a bit clunky, it is suited perfectly to the story of Colton Parker, former FBI agent, as his search for his missing fifteen-year-old daughter leads him to Las Vegas. Colton is one of the best current characters in mystery fiction, mixing the old-school traits of a Dashiell Hammett private eye with the modern sensibilities of a Jonathan Kellerman. His frantic attempts to locate his daughter drag him into the seedy underground dealings of Sin City. Colton pursues his cause with the help of a likable sidekick named Marty, and their personal investigation starts to draw lots of dangerous attention. Soon, Colton and Marty are in deep trouble as they unmask a ring of shady businesses overseen by a man with cul tish charisma. "The Lost Sheep" has a few surprises along the way, but the story's real strength is found in Colton's weakness. He is a father obsessed with his daughter's safety--understandably so!--and cannot keep himself from fighting on the same terms as his enemies. This pushes him into constant conflict with local authorities. It also stays true to his character from throughout the series, providing some of the best, hardest hitting, Christian fiction out there. Colton pulls no punches. Neither does Brandt Dodson. With respect for his audience, Dodson manages to make things remarkably gritty. He writes with snappy dialogue, cynicism, and a minimalistic approach to emotion that works. Whether this is the last of the series or not, the Colton Parker mysteries will stand as some of the best ever in this market.

Another Great "Gumshoe" Mystery - This Time, it's Personal

Brandt Dodson, author of Original Sin, Seventy-Times Seven, and Root of All Evil returns hard-bitten P.I. Colton Parker to the fray with his latest mystery-du-jour, The Lost Sheep. Continuing to craft an entertaining gumshoe series, mixing elements of faith, redemption, and self-forgiveness with suspense, excitement, and classic pavement pounding P.I. action, The Lost Sheep takes Colton Parker and readers down a deep, twisting rabbit hole that eventually leads to the light, but only after plunging to the depths of darkness first. As The Lost Sheep opens, Colton Parker is frantic, beside himself with worry - and impatient over the seeming ineptitude of Indianapolis Police Force - because his daughter Callie has run away, leaving nothing behind but a fearful message on their answering machine that says: "Daddy, please don't try to find me. Please." Things had been looking up lately for Colton and Callie; old wounds from their mother's untimely death and their estrangement had started to heal, business was picking up, they were more financially stable, and Colton had just begun to acknowledge and accept his developing feelings for former FBI partner and dear friend, Mary Christopher. Callie's sudden disappearance throws everything into a tailspin; however, as he hunts with dread heart and angry vengeance whoever has abducted his little girl. Dark, disturbing evidence leads to Las Vegas - Sin City - and a disturbing world of pornography, prostitution, and drugs. Colton pushes doggedly on despite the forces aligning against him, but in order to save both Callie and himself, he must finally lay aside his gun and anger, and win the true battle within. Once again, Dodson churns out another enjoyable mystery; Colton Parker is ever believable in his pain, struggling steps toward maturity, and lingering "Dirty Harry" panache. Think Mel Gibson from "Payback", with a message of redemption and growth, and you've got Colton Parker. Also, though Colton opens some doors spiritually in this novel, it's unlikely this hard-knuckled P.I. will become soft and "kissy-kissy" in future novels. Dodson has lots of room for character development, which is great: because that means lots more Colton Parker to come.

The Best Yet

Colton Parker's daughter is missing. The relationship between Colton and Callie has been rocky for some time because she blames him for her mother's death. He's tried to be a better father, but his work too often gets in the way. Now Callie is gone. Apparently she chose to leave, according to the message on his answering machine, warning him not to try to find her. But he's a father, and he loves Callie, so there is no way he is going to let her just disappear. His search leads him into the underworld of Las Vegas and straight into an evil beyond anything he could have imagined. Christians sometimes like to pretend we are safe from evil. We like our reading material to be sweet and saintly. But being a Christian or raised in a Christian home doesn't protect anyone. In her search for love, Callie made some very bad choices, which brought grief to the people who loved her. I'm a big fan of Brandt Dodson's Colton Parker series. If you like hard-boiled detectives, and I do, memorable characters, and spine tingling suspense, don't miss this one. Brandt Dodson just keeps geting better, and The Lost Sheep is his best one yet.